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Click to hear this sermon sermon080302
I remember
one time hearing a mother describe her children by saying that "they areas
different as day and night."
"The
Light That Makes Everything Visible'" March
2, 2008.
Cicero
United Methodist Church Ephesians
5: 8-14 Jack Keating
I remember
one time hearing a mother describe her children by saying that "they areas
different as day and night."
And in the
first lesson this morning, we hear Paul using the same contrast between
darkness and light when he compares the old life without Christ with the new
life in Christ. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul is speaking to believers
when he says, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord." What he's saying is that before we come to Christ we are dead in
our trespasses and sins and we are children of the Evil One. We are without any
light whatsoever and we are content to be darkness. But then something happens.
We have by God's grace been made "light in the Lord." And because
Jesus came to save us we are in Christ and we are now light.
And the
really interesting thing here is that Paul doesn't say we are IN the light or IN
the dark ... he says formerly we WERE the dark and we have now BECOME the
light. I started wondering exactly why he chose to express himself in that way.
And then I remembered that Jesus said, "I AM the light of the world."
And so we, who were once children of darkness, have now become children of
light.
It seems to
me that this Lenten season is a good time to evaluate ourselves in the light of
this scripture. And we living as children of light should be living? Are we
shining brightly in a darkened world or have we grown so dim that we (and the
light we cast) can hardly be distinguished from non-Christians? Let's look a
little closer at this scripture and see how we might apply it to our lives this
week.
THE CALL TO
BE CHILDREN Of THE LIGHT
In 1 Peter
2:9 scripture says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praise of him
who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light."
How many
times have we been tempted to put ourselves down by saying things like,
"Oh, I'm a nobody. I'm just a loser. I don't have any faith. I'm just an
ordinary run-of-the-mill Christian. I don't have any talents and can't do much
for the Lord..."
But
friends, that's not scriptural. Each of us has been called to live different
lives from those who are still groping in darkness and sin. We have the
responsibility to show up in the world by living a contrasting way of life - by
showing the world that Christ really does make a difference in how we live our
daily lives. Wherever we go, we can cast an illuminating beam of light into the
dark corners of the world while being a positive influence on those who are
still in darkness. But in order to do this Paul reminds us, "Do not
conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2) And this is not some overnight
happening but rather an on-going process as we seek to live out our lives each
day.
There were
these two brothers who chose to earn their money by stealing sheep and selling
them. As happens to all thieves, one day they were caught. And rather than
putting them to death the villagers decided to brand the two thieves on the
forehead with the letters S.T. for sheep thief. The action so embarrassed one
of the brothers that he left town and was never heard from again. The other
brother, however, was so filled with remorse that he stayed in town and tried
to reconcile himself to the villagers he had wronged. At first the villagers
were skeptical and most of them wouldn't have anything to do with him. But he
was determined to make restitution. Whenever there was sickness, the sheep
thief was there to help take care of the sick person. Whenever there was work
that needed to be done, the sheep thief showed up to help. He was always there
to lend a helping hand and he soon became an integral part of the community.
His life was lived for others and as a consequence he was a friend of all and
became well respected.
Years later
a traveler came through town and was sitting and eating lunch at a little cafe.
He noticed a man with the strange brand on his forehead and people would stop
by to say hello and even the children seemed to like him.
The
stranger's curiosity caused him to ask the cafe owner,"What does the
strange brand on his forehead stand for?"
The cafe
owner thought for a minute and said, "It happened so long ago that I don't
rightly remember. But I think it stands for SAINT."
IS IT
POSSIBLE TO LIVE AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT?
How do we
go about living as children of light? Well first of all, we have to want to
live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Our actions should reflect our faith.
We should try to steer clear of questionable things as well as things that we
know for certain are just plain, old, sin. Paul implores us to live as children
of light ... to produce the fruit of light. Our actions need to correspond to
light. And, as a result, Paul names three things that are produced: goodness,
righteousness, and truth. And that's in stark contrast to the byproducts of
darkness: malice, injustice, and falsehood.
Goodness
comes from a Greek word that describes love in action. It refers to giving of
oneself. In 1 Thessalonians Paul reminds us to "Always pursue what is good
both for yourself and for all." (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
A life of
goodness doesn't just happen. If you don't practice self-sacrificing love in
the little daily things it sure won't happen for the big things. Christ in our
lives makes a difference, and because of this we are gradually changing to the
point that we make a difference.
A story is
told that Benjamin Franklin wanted to convince the citizens of Philadelphia to
light the streets at night to protect against crime and as a convenience for
evening travelers. When he failed to influence them by his words, he bought an
attractive lantern and placed it on along bracket in front of his house. Each
evening he lit the wick and his neighbors noticed the warm glow in front of his
house. Passersby appreciated the light and soon others began placing lanterns
in front of their homes too. And eventually, the city recognized the need for
well-lit streets.
Our call
from Jesus is that our lives might shine so that others will see the need for
God's light in their lives, as well.
Walking in
the light not only produces goodness which reaches out to others around us, but
it produces righteousness. Righteousness means living in right standing with
God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God has made us righteousness before Him in
Christ." And 1 Timothy 6:11 says that we are to "pursue righteousness
before me." If we are pursuing right standing with God, others we will live
the same on Monday morning as we lived on Sunday in church ... and people will
see it. It will be obvious to them.
I'm told that there were these two little old ladies walking
around an overcrowded English country churchyard and they came upon a headstone
that was inscribed, "Here lies John
Smith, a politician and an honest man." "Good
heavens!" said one lady to the other. "Isn't it awful that they had
to put two people in the same grave?"
The third
thing that walking in the light produces is truthfulness. That means the
absence of deception. Truth is about what we say ... goodness is about what we
do ... and righteousness is about how we live. Paul reminds us in Ephesians
4:25 that we are to "put off all falsehood and speak truthfully to our
neighbor." And he also tells us that "speaking the truth in love, we will
in all things grow up into him who is the head, which is Christ." (Ephesians
4:15)
The fruit
produced here - goodness toward others, right standing before God, and truth in
all things would certainly make a tremendous difference in our lives because it
would begin to permeate every area in our life. Now don't get me wrong ... we
all know that we sure don't measure up like we should in God's spotlight, but
we continue to walk in the light we have been given. We continue to shine as we
are able.
A couple
took their young son with them on a trip to Europe where they visited many
great cathedrals. When they returned home the little boy's Sunday school
teacher asked him, "Did you learn what a saint is?" Remembering the
many stained glass windows which depicted the Christian saints he said, "A
saint is a person who the light shines through." Maybe this week we could
be persons who the light shines through.
WHAT IS OUR
PART IN ALL OF THIS?
How do we
go about producing fruit? Where do we start? If we see that we are not shining
as brightly and we are not walking in the light, what do we do?
Verse 10 in
the reading says, "Find out what pleases the Lord." It says FIND OUT
- YOU find out. This responsibility is on your shoulders here, not somebody
else's.
In THE
MESSAGE the words are "FIGURE OUT what will please Christ - And then DO
IT. The missing subject of that sentence is the word YOU. YOU need to make it
your business to try to figure out what pleases the Lord. In the Greek the
words find out have to do with the testing of metal. To discover by experimentation.
Those who live as children of light will continually be trying to figure out
what the will of God is in every situation so that we would please him rather
than grieve him.
But this
takes our ACTIVE involvement in our Christianity. We can't be PASSIVE
Christians. We are in partnership with God. Some things only he can do for us
and some things we have to do for ourselves. YOU find out what is pleasing to
God. YOU begin to walk in the light. YOU begin to believe the Word.
Paul says
that we are not to take part in evil - rather to expose sin. We do that
INDIRECTLY by the way we live our daily lives. Matthew 5:16 says, "Let
your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify
your father in heaven." And we also do So DIRECTLY. We need to speak up
and say, "I think this situation is wrong." Often, I think we don't take sin seriously
enough. Sometimes we participate in the same filth as the rest of the world.
Instead of influencing, we are influenced:
When we
walk in the light we become spiritually awake. And verse 14 of that 5th chapter
of Matthew is a wake up call for believers who are in a spiritual slumber. Or,
as the prophet Isaiah reminds us, "Arise, shine, for your light has come
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you ... " These words were used as a
part of an early resurrection hymn and were used at baptisms. Break off your
sin by repentance and enter a life of holy obedience. And he shall bring you
into a state of knowledge.
An
interviewer once asked a famous person, "What's it like to wake up one day
and realize you're a great success?" And the reply was, "That doesn't
happen; because if you're a success you haven't been to sleep."
In the
church today there seem to be a lot of Rip Van Winkle Christians - those who go
to sleep not long after they made the decision to follow Christ. But along
comes Paul exhorting the church to wake up. And the second part of Isaiah's
verse is an invitation to those who are still in darkness to "arise from
the dead" - to step into the light. To become the light, in fact, because
of the salvation that Christ offers today.
So this
week I'd like to ask you to look back onto your own life since becoming a
Christian. What positive changes have you seen? Where have you seen the biggest
change - in your language, your desires, your values, they way you treat
people? Is any real fruit being produced? --Any goodness, righteousness, truth?
Are you actively trying to figure out what pleases the Lord and then do it?
If you need
help with those questions or how you might answer them, I'll extend the
invitation to you again this morning, as we have for the last couple of weeks,
to come forward at the end of this service and join with some of our lay folks
in the front pew who will speak with you and join with you in prayer. And, if
you are already working on those questions and feel God calling you forward to
be a prayer partner with someone else, I invite you to come forward as well. I
believe that God will call forward just the right combination of people needing
prayer partners and those willing to serve in that role.
You were
once darkness - But now you are light in the Lord. Things are surely different
now ... because the light makes everything visible.
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